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20 Kronen Second Issue
| Issuer | Austria (State overprint on Austro-Hungarian Bank note) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1919 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | Central vignette of a female figure at right within an oval guilloche border, with the Austrian coat of arms at upper left. The denomination numeral '20' appears at upper right and within a large central guilloche rosette. The inscription 'II. AUFLAGE' appears at lower right, and the overprint 'DEUTSCHÖSTERREICH' is applied in German text, validating the note for circulation in the new Austrian republic. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse lettering | OSZTRAK-MAGYAR BANK HUSZ KORONA TÖRVÉNYES ÉRCZPÉNZT A BANKJEGYEK UTÁNZÁSA A TÖRVÉNY SZERINT BÜNTETTETIK (Translation: The Austro-Hungarian Bank will pay twenty crowns in legal coin on demand at its offices in Vienna and Budapest. Counterfeiting of banknotes is punishable by law.) |
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| Comments |
When Austria found itself a rump state after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in November 1918, it inherited a currency shared with what was now a collection of successor states — Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and others — all scrambling to separate their monetary supplies. Austria's solution was an overprint: existing Austro-Hungarian 20 Kronen notes were stamped to identify them as Austrian state property, theoretically excluding the note from being repatriated and spent by neighboring governments doing exactly the same thing.
The overprinting campaign was chaotic. Stampings vary noticeably in impression quality and placement, and the "second issue" designation reflects a revised stamp applied after early overprints proved too easily counterfeited or imitated by other successor states. The underlying note remained Austro-Hungarian Bank issue throughout — Austria had no press infrastructure ready for original production at that moment.
Rampant inflation hit the new Austrian Krone hard within two years of this issue.